ECORUN Run for a Cause – December 12, 2010

“ECORUN 2010, Run for a Cause” is a fund raising project that will help promote awareness in the preservation of our ecosystem, and rehabilitation of the denuded forests. This is in accordance with the environmental projects of District 3810 “Rotarian Kaibigan ng Kalikasan”.

I already registered for this race and this would be my last race this year. Ok naman ung singlet. Its predominantly green. (Moss/Apple Green) something like that. This is ok considering na P350 lang then may singlet na.

Hope the race map will be available for download soon, I already registered for this race and its already next week. Seems like the organizers are dilly-dallying and are not that concerned about the runners…hopefully they will be organized (water stations and marshals)on race day….go ecorun team and rotary don’t let us down!

The event was very disorganized. It did not meet the standards of having a fun run (ex. no water stations at every 1 1/2 km, too few directional signs, lack of knowledgeable marshalls) which is dangerous.

ECORUN was the worst run I joined.
1. Due to the absence of kilometer markers, I ended up doing 15k instead of 10k which I was totally not prepared to do. Sure, I have bragging rights to 15k (finally hahahaha!), but then, I didn’t train for this. If you’re lucky, madadapa ka lang – kidding aside – it can really cause serious injuries that will put you out of the running scene in months, worse, forever.
2. There were only 2 hydration stations. These were situated only at the first 2k mark. After that, you are on your own. The organizers should know that a water station must be located at every 2km mark from the beginning to the end of the race. We had to get our drinks from Milo, which was a simultaneous marathon with ECORUN. Proper hydration is needed for one to complete a race, no matter the distance.
3. Delayed gunstart. In our registration form, it was supposed to be at 430am. Pero, tirik na ang haring araw, dumaladaldal pa sila dun sa stage!
4. Lousy hosts. Both hosts can’t even pronounce the words right and they are already in Tagalog. This was probably, if memory serves, the wordiest prerun that I’ve ever been to. I shit you not, they mentioned all the rotary clubs who joined the run + all their sponsors. And they did this before the gunstart.
5. Claiming booth for singlet was chaotic. We already have our claiming stub but nobody seemed to be able to decide if they will release the singlet or not. After an eternity of indecision, they finally released our singlets. No duh. Eh bakit pa ako nagregister kung hindi rin naman ako bibigyan ng singlet . We’re running for the trees you say? We ran for the dolphins once and we didn’t have this kind of problem.
6. No run details like gunstart, route maps and singlet designs in any of the running websites like takbo.ph or thebullrunner.com
7. There was an astounding lack of marshals to the point that a LOT of people got lost. Yes, not just pretty me, there were others. Marshals are supposed to be guiding runners in the road and, more importantly, to ensure that people who get injured or who pass out on the road get the help that they need. Interestingly, we were given colored race tags (nylon ropes) to indicate the distance that we’ve covered. One should have at least two, and based on their various reactions, I probably should have three. I got 5. Of different colors. One of them even asked, “Oh bakit andami nyan?” Heller kuya, naligaw na nga ako sa 15k dahil WALANG MARSHAL.
They say every runner is different, but everyone wants effortless comfort when they run. This should be the ultimate goal of every organizer.
Let’s see what they think when the shoe’s on the other foot.

Worst run I joined! I can’t believe how badly organized this one was. I pity next year’s Rotary officers-organizers because they will have to to work doubly hard to get this year’s runners to come back next year. This should serve as an example of how NOT to organize fun runs… ‘coz this one was no fun at all.

i agree with all the comments here. sobrang disappointing nga ang event to think na ang dami nagsponsor who could have helped in arranging, setting up, checking what was missing. total disarray talaga. sana inisip nila na since kasabayan nila ang milo run, dapat double ang efforts, para hindi naman cla mapahiya. i hope the organizers would take time to read the comments so you would be able to improve, in case you are thinking of giving it a second try.

All your comments are valid and I agree with you. I know the people who organized this fun run and I know that they worked hard to make it a success though they fell short from most runners expectations. I know that though they are not answering you, they have accepted their mistakes. Next year’s run will be organized by different group of people and I believe they have noted your comments. I hope you’ll give this fun run for a cause them another chance. Thanks!